D&D 5E (2014) (+)What Ubiquitous DnD Tropes Get It Totally Wrong?

[Ralif Redhammer]

The coinage and economic models don't really match up with the realities of medieval/renaissance economies. But I'm totally okay with that. I don't play D&D to have a realistic depiction of just who could afford which weapons and armor based on their socio-economic standing.

 

[Doug McCrae]

One way D&D gets it wrong is that everyone is right about everything. No one in D&D world seems to believe in forms of magic that don’t work or gods that aren’t real.

Contrast with our own world where false beliefs – denial of evolution and global warming, anti-vaxxers, alternative medicine, astrology – are widespread. This was even more true of the medieval period. Belief in magic and miracles was virtually universal. Even one of the era's foremost intellectuals, Thomas Aquinas, believed in the evil eye and the power of stars to influence earthly affairs.

 

[Krachek]

The overall tendance to explain a DnD world using the historical medieval world.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

I hope we don’t devolve into complaining about anachronisms.

D&D isn't medieval Europe, after all.

 

[Krachek]

The best reading about this is the chapter 1 of the Dm guide, A world of your own.
It describe very well the core assumption and then what can be an alternate world.
In fact there is no trope in this chapter, trope are more in the head of various Dm.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

The best reading about this is the capter 1 of the Dm guide, A world of your own.
It describe very well the core assumption and then what can be an alternate world.
In fact there is no trope in this chapter, trope are more in the head of various Dm.

We all know how to make our own worlds. That isn’t what the thread is about.

 

[Krachek]

We all know how to make our own worlds. That isn’t what the thread is about.

Considering some harsh debate I have follow here, and not so sure that the allowance to build a world of its own is so widely spread.

 

[Umbran]

The double bladed battle axe, was that ever even real historically?

Examples of double-bitted battle axes made of stone apparently go back to like, 3400 B.C.

 

[Krachek]

Related to this thread I was wondering about dnd tropes that seem to just get it wrong.

For example, the idea that gnomes and halflings need some special explanation for why they haven't been overrun by the bigger races. Absurd! Halfings are more nimble/graceful/agile, thus more accurate with ranged weapons, luckier, less prone to fear, and can get cover much easier. Trying to invade halfling lands would be an absolute nightmare. Your grandkids would wake up screaming a hundred years later.
Meanwhile, gnomes are much smarter than humans, and resistent to a pretty wide array of magical effects. Then, forest gnomes have illusion magic that creates potentially detailed illusions that are bigger than the caster, and can talk to small and smaller animals. Rock gnomes have a whole damn tech level on the rest of the world.
Just the fact that they can hide more easily, and get physical cover against ranged attacks more easily, makes this idea bunk, and yet it persists.

So, what are some other examples? Challenge: don't crap on anyone elses examples. It's a plus thread, so keep it positive and roughly on topic.

is it already a trope to consider that all halfling commoner have the Lucky trait?

 

[FrozenNorth]

Wizards being able to set down a fireball so precisely so that all bad guys get toasted but the heroes in melee with them don’t, and being able to do so in the heat of battle.